Make your own sushi

To make your own sushi, is easier than you think. This tutorial is for beginners are for those of you who love to eat sushi, but has never tried their hand at making their own. It is such fun and a great activity for kids and even your adult friends when they come around for a meal.

First of all, I have huge respect for chef who train for years to make sushi and I marvel at their art, this is just a very short tutorial on how to get started.

I used Three Streams Cold Smoked Trout in my sushi. Yes, I know what you are thinking. It is expensive! To make your own sushi with trout is most probably the most cost-effective way to use this delicious fish. A little goes a very long way!

To make your own sushi, this is what you need:

a bamboo rolling mat

sharp thin blade chef knife

cling wrap/plastic wrap

nori sheets – seaweed sheets

short-grained sushi rice

soy

wasabi

ginger

Japanese rice wine essential to the taste of sushi rice. It also has anti-bacterial properties and serves as a preservative.

Kewpie Japanese mayonnaise

Let’s cook the rice:

Ideally you would want to do this in a rice cooker, but I have used a pot quite successfully.

You need 1 cup rice for 3 big rolls of sushi. Rinse the rice with running until the water runs clear and their is no more starch coming out of it. Place the rice in a pot. Add water, just a little bit more water than rice. About 20 % more water than rice. If you add too much water you will end up with a doughy texture.

Start the rice on high heat at first until the water boils. Stir every now and then. Lower the heat to its lowest setting and place the lid on the pot.Do not stir anymore from here onwards.
After 6-8 min, lift eh lid and check the water level. If the water is all gone and the grains are bigger and plump, the rice is ready.

Remove the rice from the pot, any rice that stuck to the bottom, leave it in the pot. place the following ingredients in a small pot and warm on the stove until the sugar and salt have melted.

½ cup of rice vinegar

2 T sugar

½ salt

Stir this mix into the rice.Cool the rice completely. Do not put in the fridge to cool.

Prepping your filling

Start rolling

Get a bowl of water with a little vinegar for you to dip your fingers in when assembling your sushi.

Place your your bamboo mat on a work surface and cover with plastic wrap to prevent rice from sticking to it.

Dip your fingers and hands in the vinegar water mixture to prevent sticking.

Take a small handful of sushi rice. Cover the nori sheet with thin layer of rice, leaving the top 2 cm of the nori sheet empty. This is where you close the roll.

Lay thin layer of vegetables sticks, trout, avocado and mayo on top of rice on the bottom third of the nori sheet.

Start rolling your sushi roll by using the tips of the four fingers of each hand on top of sushi ingredients to hold them in place while keeping both thumbs on the back of the bamboo rolling mat closest to you.

Push the plastic covered bamboo mat forward until the mat is completely around the sushi roll and until the top and bottom edges of the nori meet.

Remove your four fingers out from the mat and roll.

Continue to roll the bamboo mat in a circle around the ingredients. Do not press too hard, the filling will fall out on the sides and the nori will damage.

There you go, you made your first sushi roll. Continue rolling until your ingredients are finished. Let the sushi rolls set for a few minutes prior to cutting.

Cut your sushi on a wooden cutting board Using a very sharp knife, gently cut each sushi roll in half, cutting down and through. Place the sushi on a plate.